1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of computing. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and a system for accessing resources that are available over the Internet.
2. Description of the Related Art
As more resources become available over the Internet, it is becoming increasingly difficult to locate, manage and integrate resources such as Web pages, Gopher information, Network News, released documents and technical reports, public domain software, and collaborative sources and drafts. Resources connected to the Internet are accessed using a naming scheme that is defined by the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) protocol, which has become a de facto standard. Internet resources are also accessed using other standard access protocols, such as the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) for file servers, the Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) for web servers, the gopher protocol (GOPHER) for gopher servers, the Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) for news servers, and the Remote Shell (RSH) for file servers. Each of these particular access protocols define access mechanisms for retrieving resources from servers that are connected to the Internet. Internet browsers, such as Mosaic and Netscape, have been introduced for conveniently searching networks and retrieving information, but while perfectly adequate for searching and retrieving resources, such conventional browsers are limited and do not lend themselves for integration into larger toolsets.
Several systems have been developed for making access to files over the Internet easier and more efficient. For example, the Andrew File System provides a wide area file service by extending the scope of file systems from a Local Area Network (LAN) to the Internet. The Andrew File System, however, uses its own protocol, not the standard Internet protocols previously mentioned and, consequently, requires an Andrew file server.
Another system that has been developed for accessing files over the Internet is the Bell Laboratory Plan 9 which permits mounting of Internet file servers to local name spaces by introducing a new operating system. Plan 9 supports a per-process name space and a message-oriented file system protocol so that a file system-like interface is implemented. While different access protocols are accommodated, the Plan 9 operating system is not transparent to existing application tools and kernels, and the applications running on the kernels require modification for use with Plan 9.
The Alex File System provides transparent read access to Internet resources by being built on top of the existing Network File System (NFS), with an Alex server being added as a Virtual File System (VFS) interface. Hosts on a LAN use the NFS protocol for sending calls to the Alex server. The calls pass through an NFS client on a kernel that is local to the NFS server kernel on which the Alex server is running. The calls are then upcalled from the NFS server kernel to the Alex server. Nevertheless, the NFS protocol causes the Alex system to be limited because, while the NFS protocol implements file services, no information has been provided regarding a process initiating a request, which is important for implementing an authenticated access. Consequently, the Alex system only supports limited file-oriented file access, such as an anonymous FTP access.
The Jade File System provides a uniform way for naming and accessing files in an Internet environment using a new personal name server that integrates a heterogeneous collection of underlying existing file systems that may not be modified because of autonomy. A private name space can be defined by each user that supports two features: multiple file systems are allowed to be mounted under one directory, and one logical name space is permitted for mounting other logical name spaces. The Jade File System, however, does not use URL naming. Instead, a separate name server is provided for a pathname. Further, individual access servers must be mounted and the program running on the host must be recompiled before a user can access a file system.
The Multiple Dimensional File System (n-DFS) is a logical file system that allows new services to be added to underlying file systems without requiring applications or the operating system kernel to be modified. The n-DFS is layered on top of existing physical file systems, but does not provide convenient Internet access using existing protocols.
What is needed is an Internet file system that transparently uses existing protocols in connection with existing operating system kernels, applications and file servers for accessing Internet resources.